GUEST COLUMN: Get rid of downtown Fitchburg parking meters

I cannot understand why Fitchburg has parking meters on Main Street and Boulder Drive.

After all, Fitchburg is not Northampton, where there are hundreds of people looking for places to park in the downtown area every day of the week.

In the 1950s and '60s, when throngs of shoppers flocked to Main Street from everywhere to shop or conduct business, and automobile traffic was bumper-to-bumper, there was a need for parking meters to ration parking spaces equitably. But that's not the scene today.

Sometime last year, I went to City Hall Cafe one weekday morning to have breakfast. I parked one door away from the restaurant entrance and fed the meter enough quarters to allow myself plenty of time to eat. A while later, as I was leaving the cafe, I met a friend who had just come in, so I sat down at her table to chat for a while. I ordered another cup of coffee, and we became engrossed in conversation.

Then I noticed an officer walking up the street ticketing cars that had run out of meter time. I thought, "Oh, my God! I forgot about the meter! I better go put in extra quarters." But it was too late. I could see the officer ticket my car. So I hastily said goodbye to my friend and went outside. I had a ticket, and I paid my fine a few minutes later at City Hall. But before I did so, I looked up Main Street. All the parking spaces ahead of me were empty. There were plenty of parking spaces available.

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No driver was deprived of an opportunity to park their car because I overstayed my time.

In the July 20 Sentinel & Enterprise, I read that John Karanasios, owner of City Hall Cafe, has purchased the former Mr. C's at 400 Summer St., and will relocate his business there under a new name, Summer Street Cafe. I wish him success, but I am sorry to see him leave upper Main Street.

The newspaper story said that a major reason for his decision was the large number of parking tickets his customers received. Mr. Karanasios told reporter Alana Melanson that he had tried to work with the city many times to resolve this issue but was unsuccessful. I don't understand why the city could not accommodate him.

Mayor Wong made hopeful comments to reporter Alana Melanson, saying she is encouraged that Mr. Karanasios is investing in the city and that his new site will attract more customers. But the mayor misses the point. The closing of City Hall Cafe will leave another vacant store on Main Street, which already has an abundance of them. Is this what revitalizing Main Street is all about? Expanding the number of empty stores?

The closing of City Hall Cafe will particularly affect senior citizens living in the Main Street area. While some are able to drive to the new location, many will not be able to. Several friends have told me about residents of The Sundial they know who enjoyed walking to City Hall Cafe for breakfast. But Summer Street is too far for them to walk, and they cannot drive. For these people, the closing of City Hall Cafe is more than an inconvenience.

I used to think that the reason for parking meters was to provide income for the city. But I was disabused of this notion while covering a City Council budget hearing when I was a reporter for the Sentinel & Enterprise. I learned then that the purpose of the parking meter income is to pay the meter maid who tickets the cars. (My apologies to any male officers who may perform this task. I mean no offense, but meter maid is the popular title for this job.)

So parking meters don't really benefit the city's coffers. Of course, back in the day when people competed for parking space on Main Street, there was a need for people to ticket cars that overstayed the metered time. But we don't have that problem today. Our problem today is to encourage people to come to Main Street.

So why not, as a welcoming gesture, remove all meters from Main Street, its adjacent side streets, and Boulder Drive, which also has many available parking spaces, and let people park for free without having to worry about how much time they have left on the meter?

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